The Hanging Tree
by WildestDreams121788
Summary: "Are you coming to the tree? I told you to run so we'd both be free. Strange things happened here; no stranger would it be if we met at midnight in the hanging tree." Maddie Gerard is a Muggleborn orphan from London. Sirius Black is the pureblood boy who spotted her magic and told her she's a witch. But with a war brewing outside Hogwarts' walls, will they survive to love or hang?
1. Chapter 1

**May 1971**

"What are you doing?"

The boy's voice startled her so that she nearly fell from the high tree branch on which she was perched. When she had regained her balance, her blue eyes found the dark-haired boy standing on the ground close to her tree. "Shhh," she hissed. "I'm trying to hide."

He cocked his head to one side as he came closer, placing a hand on the large oak tree. "From whom?" he asked.

She glanced around, making sure no one else was in earshot. "From Mrs. McCarthy," she answered quietly.

He chuckled, gray eyes sparkling with mischief. "And who is Mrs. McCarthy?" he asked.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "The Orphanage Director," she snapped. "If you're going to insist on continuing to talk to me, then can you at least hide too so she won't find me?"

Barking out a loud laugh, he nodded. He reached for the lowest branch and could just barely reach it, but he managed to climb up the tree quickly enough. He pulled himself up onto the branch beside her and sat next to her, straddling the limb so that he was facing her. He stuck his hand out and said, "I'm Sirius Black."

She stared at him for a moment, then accepted his hand and replied, "Madeleine Gerard."

Sirius grinned as though he'd won some bet that only he knew about. "Why are you hiding from Mrs. McCarthy?" he asked.

Maddie frowned. "You ask a lot of questions."

"You don't give many answers," Sirius snickered.

Maddie eyed him curiously. He wasn't dressed like the other children from the orphanage, to be sure. Now that she could see him better, she saw that he was wearing bright purple trousers with a lime green button-down, and she thought the shirt looked like it was made from silk. "I gave her a flower, and she got upset," Maddie said softly as she looked away from Sirius.

Sirius frowned. "What's wrong with that?"

Maddie huffed. "None of your business, ok?" After a moment, she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, expecting him to have decided to leave after her outburst, but he still sat there, grinning madly at her. She sighed. "She says I'm a freak, but I'm not. At least, I don't think I am…"

He tilted his head, as though evaluating her. "I don't think you're a freak either," he decided.

Maddie's eyes snapped to his, surprised. "You don't?" He shook his head. "Why not? All the other kids do."

"Because I saw you making those leaves float in the air before I came and talked to you," he said, as though levitating foliage were the most natural thing in the world.

Maddie gasped. "Oh, please don't tell anyone," she begged. "Mrs. McCarthy's always saying that if anyone else ever found out I could do stuff like that, they'd throw me in the loony bin, and I'd never be able to leave. I swear, I'm not crazy. I don't know why I…"

"Hey, calm down," Sirius said, growing more serious as he saw her panic. "Of course, you're not crazy. You're just a witch. It's no big deal."

Maddie's voice trailed off at his words, and when she'd taken a moment to process what he'd said, she laughed. "Witches aren't real."

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her. "If magic weren't real, why else would you be able to make things float like that?" Maddie hesitated, unsure of the answer. "It's ok," he continued. "You should be proud to be a witch. Magic is the best thing in the world. My mum always says the more magic in the family, the better. For a while, we thought my brother might be a Squib, can you imagine how awful that would've been for him? It would've absolutely killed my parents. There's nothing they pride themselves on more than our pureblood heritage."

Brows knit, Maddie stared hard at the pale boy, unsure which of her thousands of questions to ask first. Deciding, she asked, "You can do this stuff, too?"

Sirius smiled, then pulled a leaf off a small twig above them. He held it out in his hand where Maddie could see it well, palm flat. He screwed up his face in concentration, as though trying to remember the answer to a very difficult question that he'd forgotten. After a moment, the leaf slowly turned a brilliant yellow, then curled in on itself, its shape twisting until it was no longer a leaf at all, but a daffodil. His smile widened at his success as he offered it to her. Eyes wide, she took the flower. It was soft and delicate in her hand, and she couldn't help but smile back at him as wonder and excitement overcame her fears. "Of course, I'm a wizard. I'm a Black; if I couldn't do magic, it'd be strange."

"Why?" Maddie asked as she continued to gently stroke the petals of the daffodil in her hand.

"Because we're purebloods," Sirius answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "People like Mrs. McCarthy are called Muggles. You and I are witches and wizards. People like me who were born into ancient all-magical families are called purebloods. Can you remember if your parents ever did magic?" Maddie shook her head. "Well, they were probably Muggles, too, then, so you'd be a -" Sirius paused, suddenly unsure of himself. "Muggleborn. You're probably a Muggleborn."

"So, are we the only ones who can do this stuff? Who can do magic?" Maddie asked as she focused on the daffodil, making it slowly rise until it was floating several inches above her hand.

"Oh, no, of course not," Sirius answered, snapping back to himself. "There's loads of people out there like us, purebloods, Muggleborns, and halfbloods. Oh, yeah, halfbloods are people who don't have just wizarding family or just Muggle family, but have some mix of both."

Maddie nodded. She watched the daffodil twirl in the air as she said, "I can't believe I found someone else like me."

"How old are you?" Sirius asked.

"Eleven," she answered.

"Me too. That means we'll both be first years at Hogwarts this year," Sirius said excitedly.

"What's Hogwarts?"

"Oh, you'll love it. It's a school of witchcraft and wizardry. It's the most wonderful place in the world."

Maddie shuddered as she heard a very angry Irish accent screaming her name. "Mrs. McCarthy," she sighed heavily. "I don't want to go yet. I want to stay and hear all about Hogwarts."

Sirius thought for a moment, then his eyes shined with something that fell somewhere between genius and madness. "Does your room have a window?"

Maddie nodded. "It does, but I share my room with another girl so it's not as though you could come over or…"

"No, no, no," Sirius said, laughing. "Leave your window open tonight. I'm going to send you an owl."

"An owl?"

"We use owls to send letters and packages to other witches and wizards," Sirius explained quickly as Mrs. McCarthy's short, plump figure came into view across the square. "I'm going to send you a book about Hogwarts and a letter explaining everything I can think of about magic and the wizarding world."

Maddie nodded as her daffodil dropped to her hand. She offered it back to him, but he shook his head. "I made it for you," he insisted. "Keep it."

She nodded, then flinched when Mrs. McCarthy spotted them in the tree and shouted, "Young lady, get down here this minute!"

* * *

That night, well after her roommate Susan had fallen asleep, Maddie was lying awake in her bed, stomach growling as Mrs. McCarthy had sent her to bed without supper again that night. A soft hooting alerted her that the owl Sirius had promised had finally arrived. As quietly as she could, she slipped out of bed and over to the window, where a black owl that was bigger than any she'd ever imagined waited perched on her windowsill. She approached it hesitantly, not sure if the owl really understood what she wanted. Apparently, the owl had grown impatient with her, because it flapped its wings and flew right over the top of her head, dropping a large book on her bed and landing on top of the wardrobe. Maddie hurried back to the bed and picked up the book. It was difficult to see, but the street lights and the moon provided just enough light for her to read the cover. _Hogwarts: A History._

Maddie smiled and clutched the book to her chest. The owl hooted again, annoyed with having to wait for her acknowledgment. Quickly hiding the book under her mattress, she pulled from her hiding place a short letter she had written to Sirius with a pen and paper she'd stolen from Mrs. McCarthy's office when the director had left her alone in the room for a few minutes earlier that night. She looked at the owl, unsure how to get him to take the letter. The owl seemed to know what it was supposed to do without Maddie's help, though. It descended on her suddenly, snatching the letter from her hand and flying out the window and disappearing into the night.

In a flash, her magical encounter was over. It was too dark to properly read the book or letter that Sirius had sent her, so she left them hidden and climbed back into bed, far too excited to sleep.

* * *

 **September 1971**

Maddie stared at the train ticket in her hand, completely befuddled. Mrs. McCarthy had dropped her off at King's Cross Station and left her to find her own way to the train, making it very clear the whole walk to the station that she very strongly disapproved of the school she was attending, but apparently willing to allow Maddie to go anyway. She stumbled around the train station with her heavy suitcase for nearly an hour looking for Platform 9 ¾ with no luck. Her eyes burned as she stood between Platforms 9 and 10. She'd tried asking one of the station employees, but he'd just looked at her like she was crazy and told her to run along. What if finding the train was a test to see if she really did have the magic it takes to be a witch? What if she never found it? Would that mean she'd never get to go to Hogwarts? Maddie wiped a stray tear off her face with the sleeve of her threadbare burgundy cardigan, feet frozen in place. If she had to go back to the orphanage so soon, she wasn't sure she could take the humiliation and shame that was sure to wait for her there.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Maddie looked up, surprised, at the sound of the lady's voice. The woman had dark brown hair that was flecked with gray, and she smiled kindly at Maddie.

Quickly doing her best to hide the fact she'd been crying, Maddie said softly, "I can't find my platform, and my train leaves in ten minutes."

The lady asked, "Are you looking for Platform 9 ¾?" Maddie nodded, then noticed a gray-haired man standing behind the lady with a hand on the shoulder of a boy roughly Maddie's age. The boy had dark, messy hair like his mother, and his glasses were comically askew. He fixed them quickly as his mother said, "Well, lucky we found you, then. I'll never understand why Dumbledore doesn't have someone here to greet the Muggle-born students who don't know how to find the Hogwarts Express. Come on, sweetheart. Our son James is starting his first year, too."

Maddie smiled slightly as she took the lady's outstretched hand. The man said, "It's really rather simple. All you have to do is run straight at that wall right there, and you'll go right through it and end up on the platform on the other side." Maddie's eyes widened. He chuckled and continued, "Don't worry. James and I will go first and show you."

The boy, James, smiled at her and waved at her, then he and his dad pushed his luggage cart towards the wall, hitting it and completely disappearing on the other side. Maddie gaped as the mother said, "It's easier to go at a bit of a run. You ready?"

Maddie nodded, despite the uncertainty still bouncing around in her head. Holding tightly to the lady's hand, they jogged quickly toward the wall. Maddie shut her eyes tight just before they hit it, then a chill washed over her, and she opened her eyes to see a busy train platform and large, shiny red engine labeled "Hogwarts Express." She stared around, awestruck, as the lady let go of her hand. Remembering herself, she turned and said, "Oh, thank you very much, ma'am."

Smiling, the lady said, "You're very welcome, dear." Turning her attention to her son, she said, "James, help this young lady with her things and hurry onto the train, it's about to leave."

James answered quickly, "Yes, ma'am." He took Maddie's suitcase and headed off to the train, leaving Maddie to hurry after him. They found an empty compartment on the train, and James placed her suitcase in the overhead storage. "I'll be right back," James said. "I've got to go say goodbye to my mum and dad."

Maddie nodded, and James rushed from the train. She pulled _Hogwarts: A History_ out of her suitcase and sat down on one of the benches. The train jerked and started pulling out of the station. She had just found her place in the book when she heard a voice, muffled by the glass of the compartment door, shout, "Maddie!"

Maddie jumped, startled, and looked up to see Sirius Black on the other side of the door. She jumped out of her seat and rushed over to him as he opened the door. She tackled him in a hug, surprising him. He stiffened, and Maddie let go of him, but he was still smiling at her. "I'm so glad you made it," he said. "I wanted to wait on the other side of the wall for you to help you get across, but Mum wouldn't let me."

"Why?"

Sirius shrugged. "She insisted I 'get to know' my 'fellow' Slytherins instead," he said, pulling a face.

Maddie laughed. "So you're going to be a Slytherin?"

Sirius snorted. "I hope not," he said. "It does seem rather likely, though. My entire family has been Slytherins for hundreds of years."

James walked up, a smirk on his face. "I'd absolutely hate to be a Slytherin," James said.

Sirius met his gaze for a moment, then glanced down quickly. Maddie thought Sirius almost looked ashamed for a moment, but before she had time to think on it, another voice sneered, "Slytherin is the best house at Hogwarts." Maddie turned her head to look the other direction to see the source of the voice, a dirty boy with black hair and a large nose in baggy clothes standing next to a pretty red-haired girl in a cute blue dress. "Slytherins are powerful, ambitious, and smart. What other house could you possibly want to be in?"

Puffing up his chest a bit, James declared, "'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad. Got a problem with that?"

The other boy shook his head. "No. If you'd rather be brawny instead of brainy -"

Sirius quipped, "Where are you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?"

James snickered at that, and the other boy frowned. Maddie elbowed Sirius and scolded, "Sirius, that wasn't nice."

Sirius looked at Maddie, as though surprised she'd called him out. The red-haired girl said, "I think I'm going to be a Hufflepuff. That house values hard work, patience, loyalty, and fair play." She held a hand out to Maddie. "I'm Lily Evans."

Maddie shook her hand. "Madeleine Gerard," she replied politely. "Hufflepuff sounds like a really nice house to me. Maybe we'll both be there."

Sirius snorted. "Maddie, I'm betting you'll be a Gryffindor like James and, maybe if I'm lucky, me."

The dark haired boy chuckled, and Lily elbowed him. "Don't be rude, Severus," she chided.

Suddenly, Maddie felt something push against her back, hard, and she fell forward. Sirius caught her against his chest and helped her stay on her feet. She turned around to see a chubby boy with mousy brown hair and a bright red face stuttering out an apology, with a taller boy with light brown hair and patient green eyes standing behind him, sighing. "Terribly sorry."

The taller boy asked, "Sorry to bother you all, but have any of you seen a toad? Poor Peter here has lost his."

Maddie shook her head as Sirius's barking laugh filled the hall. "Who still brings a pet toad to Hogwarts?" Sirius snickered.

"M-my mum couldn't afford an owl," Peter sniffed, looking around the floor wildly for any signs of his toad.

"Sirius," Maddie rebuked. "We haven't seen any toads, but I'll help you look," she offered.

Peter sniffled then said, "Oh, thank you."

Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but Maddie cut him off, fed up with his attitude toward the other kids that she found bewildering. "I'll see you when we get there, Sirius," she huffed, then followed Peter and the other boy further down the train. Once out of sight from the others, Maddie said, "I'm Madeleine, by the way."

"Remus," the taller boy said, turning around to shake Maddie's hand.

"Peter," the chubby boy said quickly, eyes darting from side to side nervously.

"What does your toad look like?" Maddie asked.

"Edwin's a Natterjack," Peter answered. "He's brown with green spots and a yellow stripe down his back."

"Don't worry, Peter," Remus said, placing a hand on Peter's shoulder. "We'll find him."

* * *

The train was pulling into the station before the kids found frightened little Edwin the toad hiding behind Peter's own trunk. Once off the train, a man larger than any Maddie had ever seen ushered the first year students down to the lake to take boats to the school. Maddie crawled into a boat after Remus and Peter, only to find Sirius jumping in after her. "Aren't you going to ride over with James?" Maddie said as the large man, who someone had said was named Hagrid, pushed their boat away from the shore and out into the water.

Remus and Peter picked up two oars and started to paddle after the other kids in boats as Sirius answered, "No, I wanted to talk to you."

"Ok, let's talk," Maddie huffed. "Why aren't you acting like yourself? You've been mean today."

Sirius flinched slightly at her tone. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you owe an apology to," Maddie said, nodding in Peter's direction, who either wasn't paying their conversation any attention or was doing an excellent job of pretending not to notice them.

"You're right," Sirius said. He tapped Peter's oar with his wand, and the oar suddenly started rowing itself, making Peter jump. "Hey, sorry about earlier. Toads are pretty cool," Sirius said with his most charming smile. "If you want, I can teach you to make your toad change colors."

Excitement lit up Peter's face. "Really, you can?" Sirius nodded, and Maddie rolled her eyes but smiled at Sirius's attempt at friendliness anyway. "That'd be great!"

"Brilliant," Sirius said. "I'm Sirius Black, by the way."

"Peter Pettigrew," Peter replied, taking Sirius's hand and shaking it vigorously.

Waving a hand in Remus's direction, Maddie said, "This is Remus…"

"Remus Lupin," Remus finished for her.

* * *

"Black, Sirius."

Sirius winked at Maddie before walking over to the stool and sitting on it for McGonagall to place the Sorting Hat on his head. The hat seemed to think for a moment, then it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" There were a few seconds of shocked silence, then hissing from the Slytherin table. Another beat later, the Gryffindors began to shout and cheer as loud as they could, covering the noise of the Slytherins' booing as Sirius came down and sat by himself at the Gryffindor table, looking stunned.

"Evans, Lily."

The hat called out her house the second it touched her head. "GRYFFINDOR!" Lily excitedly ran down to the Gryffindor table and sat down beside Sirius. Sirius grinned and clapped her on the back.

"Gerard, Madeleine."

Maddie took a deep breath, then walked up to McGonagall and faced the crowded room as the professor placed the hat over her head, covering her eyes and blocking her vision. A voice whispered in her ears that she realized only she could hear. "Ah, I see. You wish to be a Gryffindor with your new friends. I cannot say I blame you. From what I could see in Sirius Black and Lily Evans's minds, they'll be excellent friends to you. I can't say that you belong in Gryffindor though. Oh yes, dear child, of course, you're a brave girl, but your boldness is hardly your primary quality. No, you're far too intelligent. This head is full of wit, curiosity, the desire to learn everything about some things and absolutely nothing about others. You're creative, original, accepting. No, you're not a Gryffindor. You belong in…" There was a moment's pause. "RAVENCLAW!"

Cheers resounded from the Gryffindor table as blue and bronze stripes appeared on Maddie's formerly black tie. She saw Sirius waving at her, a hint of disappointment in his eyes as she went to sit at the Ravenclaw table. She plopped down beside another girl with wild, curly brown hair and incredibly thick glasses that made her dark green eyes look huge. The other girl tapped Maddie's shoulder, and she turned to her. "I'm Sybill Trelawney. Second year," she said, extending a hand.

Maddie smiled at her and shook her hand. "Madeleine Gerard."

McGonagall called, "Lupin, Remus."

The scarred boy went and sat under the hat. It was a couple of minutes before the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

"McKinnon, Marlene."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Meadowes, Dorcas."

"RAVENCLAW!" The brown haired girl raced to sit across from Maddie, who smiled at her before turning her attention back to the front of the room.

"O'Brien, Trevor."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Pettigrew, Peter."

The hat sat on Peter's head for nearly ten minutes before it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Remus and Sirius cheered louder than anyone else at the Gryffindor table as Peter ran over and sat down with the other first years.

"Potter, James."

The hat had barely touched James's head when it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Snape, Severus."

The hat didn't waste time thinking. "SLYTHERIN!"

"Vance, Emmeline."

"GRYFFINDOR."

* * *

The feast ended, and Maddie followed the prefect up to Ravenclaw tower along with the rest of the Ravenclaw first years. The prefect, a blonde boy named Dylan Owens, was saying, "Some of you might have met our House Ghost at dinner, the Gray Lady. She doesn't really talk to anyone but Ravenclaws, but she'll be very helpful if you get lost and need help finding your way around. You'll sleep well here; the beds are very comfortable, and the wind whistling around the windows is very relaxing." The group of students approached a bronze eagle knocker stuck to a wall that showed no signs of a door. "This knocker is the door to our common room. It will ask you a question, give you a riddle. If you answer it correctly, it will open the door into the common room. The riddles can be difficult, so triple check that you have everything you need every time you leave the house, especially if you're in a hurry. Don't stress if you don't know the answer, just wait around and work it out with your fellow Ravenclaws. The door also accepts multiple answers to the same question if the answer is well-reasoned and logical. Being a Ravenclaw isn't about being the smartest or the cleverest; it's about being willing to learn."

Owens turned away and knocked with the eagle's handle on the wall. The eagle sprang to life and spoke.

" _I'm pleasing to the eye,_

 _A tool for many absent of mind,_

 _A tapestry of fickle lies,_

 _Blind to even the most pensive spies,_

 _I'm often the breeder of fervent lust,_

 _But I am by far one you shouldn't trust._

 _What am I?"_

Owens turned back to the first years and said, "I'm not sure what the answer to this one is. Anyone have any ideas?"

The first years talked among themselves as Maddie shifted her weight on her feet, biting her lip and tugging at the sleeve of her new Ravenclaw sweater. Maddie looked at Dorcas and whispered, "I haven't a clue."

Dorcas thought for a moment, twisting a strand of wavy brown hair around her fingers. "I'm not sure. Maybe this looks harder than it is?" Maddie shrugged. Suddenly, Dorcas's eyes lit up and she started bouncing excitedly, sticking her hand in the air. "Oh, I know!" she exclaimed.

Owens smiled at her and stepped aside, letting Dorcas step up to talk to the eagle. "Go for it," Owens said cheerfully.

"Looks!" Dorcas exclaimed. "Looks are deceiving."

The eagle replied, "Well reasoned." A door appeared in the wall and swung open.

"Great job!" Owens cried. "Now all of your first years, up into your dormitories and off to bed."

* * *

 **Just so everyone knows, we will not be lingering on childhoods very long in this story. I'm hoping to work my way up to sixth and seventh year very quickly. The rather extensive look at their younger years is simply to establish relationships and emotions and blah blah blah. You know, the stuff that makes for a good story haha.**

 _ **I also wanted to let everyone know that I will soon be opening an Etsy shop selling homemade crochet Hogwarts house scarves! As my skills improve, I will be expanding beyond scarves to hats and gloves and such, and I will be adding character themed items as well, but for now, just the four houses will have to satisfy. I intend to have this shop open within the next few days, and I will let you know how to find it! I will be offering special discounts to my loyal readers, naturally. I won't lie; the past year or so I've been having extreme money problems, and the stress from that has honestly been one of, if not the, biggest contributor to my lack of story updates. This means that by purchasing a scarf from me, you'll be fueling my two greatest passions, crocheting and writing, so you'll actually get more than just a scarf, you'll get more regular story updates. Keep an eye out for my story updates with more information on this exciting new venture!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**October 1972**

Maddie sat next to Peter in Charms class. The Gryffindor boy was scribbling notes furiously, far more focused than he'd ever been before. Maddie nudged him, and he looked up, startled. "What's with all the extra notes?"

Peter whispered, "They're for Remus. He's missing class today."

Maddie looked around. Sure enough, the brown-haired boy's desk was empty. "Oh, where is he?"

Peter jumped, then started tapping the feather end of his quill against his desk. "I think he said his mother was sick, and he was going to see her for a couple days. So Sirius and I are taking extra notes for him to make sure he doesn't miss anything."

"Oh, ok, well that's nice of you," Maddie said quietly. "Let me know if I can help somehow." Peter nodded, then went back to his note-taking.

* * *

 **January 1973**

"Hi, Remus," Maddie said as she walked up behind the taller boy, who jumped. He was sitting, leaning his back against the trunk of a giant oak tree close to the edge of the Black Lake. He waved and scooted over to give her room to sit beside her. "I heard your mum was sick again last week," Maddie said as she plopped onto the ground.

Remus glanced around nervously. "Oh, yeah, but she's been feeling better again."

Maddie nodded. "Good, I'm glad she is." She reached into the pocket of her Ravenclaw robes and pulled a small item out. "Hey, didn't you tell me that your mom's favorite animal is a starfish?"

Remus smiled a little and nodded. "Yeah, she loves them. She says that she admires the way that no matter how much damage they take, that as long as their brain and heart remain intact, they can regrow to be whole again."

Maddie smiled. "I like that. Well, I know it's not actually much help with her being sick and all, but Professor Flitwick gave me permission to spend a little extra time in the Muggle Art classroom the past couple weeks. I know it's not the best-looking piece in the world, but I thought maybe you'd like to have it anyway." She held the item out to Remus and dropped it in his hand. It was a small, brilliant orange starfish sculpted from clay and painted. "I know it's probably a bit silly, but…"

"It's not silly at all," Remus said, his voice a little hoarse. He grinned, then leaned over and hugged her. "She'll love it; thank you."

Maddie's cheeks burned pink as she replied, "You're welcome. I'm glad you like it."

* * *

 **November 1974**

Sirius pushed Maddie out of the Hospital Wing, ignoring her protests. "What's wrong with Remus?" she demanded. "What happened to him?"

"He's fine, just a little sick, that's all," Sirius insisted as he kept an arm wrapped firmly around her shoulders and guided her in the direction of the stairs.

"He was more than just sick, Sirius," Maddie insisted. "I saw him; he was scratched up and bleeding. People don't bleed from being sick. What happened to him?"

"Nothing," Sirius repeated. "Remus is fine. If you must know, he had a little run-in with the Whomping Willow. Now, please, Mads, just let it go?"

"I'm sure you'll have noticed by now that it's only the Gryffindors who are stupid enough to play around with that ridiculous Willow, testing its limits," Severus Snape's voice sneered from behind the pair. "Foolish idiocy that you Gryffindors confuse with bravery."

"Oh, shove off, Snivellus," Sirius retorted, stopping to turn around and face the third year Slytherin. "Why don't you just run along and go play with your little chemistry set?"

Severus taunted, "Oh yes, the same way you're running off to play blood traitor with your little mudblood girlfriend?"

Immediately, Sirius reached for his wand, but Maddie's hand on his wand arm stopped him from drawing it. She could feel his arm shaking with rage under her touch, and Sirius growled, "Don't you dare ever call her that again. I hear that word out of you toward anyone, and I'm hexing you until your own mother wouldn't recognize you." Sirius started to turn away, then seemed to have an idea. "Oh, by the way," Sirius smirked. "If you think you're as tough as the Gryffindor boys, I'll give you a hint about that Whomping Willow. There's a knot on the side of the trunk. If you can manage to reach it with a long enough stick, touch that knot, and the whole tree will stop moving. Even better, there's a secret tunnel to Hogsmeade underneath it. Of course, I wouldn't expect a cowardly little snake like you to be able to pull that off."

Severus was still sputtering an inarticulate response as Sirius pulled Maddie away and up the stairs in the direction of her house. "Sirius, is that true about the Whomping Willow?" Maddie asked softly.

At the sound of her voice, Sirius seemed to relax a little bit, loosening his grip on her shoulders. "Yeah, it's true," Sirius said, his voice tinged with what sounded like regret.

"How do you know that?"

"Someone else knew and told me," Sirius said. "Look, let's just drop it, ok?" Maddie hesitated but nodded. "And please, whatever you do, don't do it. Don't go anywhere near that tree, ok?"

Maddie frowned. "Ok."

* * *

 **December 1974**

"James, something's bothering me," Maddie said as she took Sirius's seat at the Gryffindor table as Sirius left the Great Hall after dinner. James lifted an eyebrow at her, mouth too stuffed with pot roast to say anything. "Well, it's just that a few weeks ago, Sirius made a comment to Snape about the Whomping Willow, then turned right around and made me promise to never go anywhere near that tree."

James choked on his food. Maddie pounded on his back as he recovered, then downed half a glass of pumpkin juice. "Wait, Sirius did what?"

Taken aback by the panic in James's voice, Maddie said, "Sirius told Severus that he just had to touch some knot to be able to get to some secret passage under the Whomping Willow. He swears it's true, but made me promise to never try to do it myself. I never thought Severus would take it to heart, but in Potions I overheard him telling that Mulciber guy that he was gonna try to go down there tonight and test it out."

"What?" James exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "Oh, no, no, no…"

"James?" Maddie asked. "What's wrong?"

"Ummm, nothing. Everything's gonna be fine. I can't believe he… what a bloody idiot… I'm gonna…" James seemed to recover himself for a moment, shaking his head hard. "Sorry, Maddie, I've got to go. Thanks for telling me!"

With that, James bolted out of the Great Hall like a deer being chased by a predator. "Ummm, you're welcome?" Maddie replied to his fleeing back, just as confused as ever.

* * *

The next morning, Maddie bumped into Sirius — literally — as she left Ravenclaw tower for the day. "Sirius? What are you doing here?"

Sirius instantly threw his arms around her and crushed her to him until she was struggling for air. "Thank you for talking to James last night," Sirius mumbled. "I was a complete and bloody idiot. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Air," Maddie gasped, and Sirius relaxed his hold on her, looking away from her, shamefaced. "Sirius, what happened?"

Sirius sighed. "Snape got too close to the tree, and he got hurt."

"Sirius, that tree could've killed him," Maddie gasped.

"Well, yeah…" Sirius muttered. "James got there in time though. He pulled Snape away before he got seriously hurt. Probably saved his life."

Maddie stared at Sirius, wide-eyed, pulling out of his grasp. "You shouldn't have ever said anything to him about that stupid tree," Maddie scolded. "You should've left him alone. That was a cruel trick, Sirius; he could have died."

"I know," Sirius sighed. "But, Mads, you do get it, right?"

Maddie frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "What are you talking about? Get what?"

Sirius hesitated, then went for it. "Maddie, he had absolutely no right to call you that awful name," Sirius snarled. "I hear people calling you that, and it just makes my blood boil."

"Wait," Maddie snapped. "Don't you dare tell me that you did this because of me. Don't you go telling me that you were trying to get even with him for calling me some stupid name."

Sirius pleaded, "Mads, wait —"

Maddie pushed past him, running down the stairs as he chased after her. "Sirius, I can't deal with this right now," Maddie said impatiently. "I have to be down at the Quidditch pitch soon."

Sirius laughed, "But you're not even on Ravenclaw's Quidditch team."

"No, I'm not, and neither is Peter, which is who I'm meeting there, by the way," Maddie said as she was forced to stop by a flight of stairs that had decided to change directions.

Sirius dropped a hand on her shoulder. "Maddie, please, give me a chance to explain."

"There's nothing to explain, Sirius," Maddie hissed. "You've made yourself perfectly clear. You thought that my feelings were worth seriously hurting someone over, and that's not fair, to me or to anyone else."

"Mads —"

"Please, just leave me alone," Maddie begged as the stairs jerked to a stop, and she ran away from him, leaving Sirius standing alone in an empty corridor.

* * *

 **January 1975**

"What are you doing out here?" Maddie asked, pulling her robes tighter around herself. "It's freezing out here."

Remus shrugged. "It's not too awfully cold," he protested.

"Remus, there's snow on the ground. You're sitting on snow," Maddie said as she hugged her Ravenclaw scarf closer to her neck. "Are you hiding from Sirius too?"

Remus snorted. "Trying to, anyway. Git keeps finding me."

Maddie nodded as a shiver of cold ran down her spine. "He's been following me around, too, for a good month now at least. Ever since he sent Snape off on that ridiculous trip to the Whomping Willow…"

A deep sound emanated from Remus's direction, and Maddie could have sworn it sounded like a dog growling. Of course, with so much wind blowing, she could've easily been mistaken. "Let's not talk about that," Remus said, standing up and moving over to where Maddie stood. "Come on, I'll walk you back up to the castle where you can warm up."

Remus threw an arm around Maddie, and the two started walking, snow crunching underfoot. "Maybe the Herbology greenhouses instead?" Maddie suggested. When he raised an eyebrow at her, she added, "Sirius won't exactly be expecting to find us there, so it'll probably be the last place he looks, and it will still be a lot warmer in there."

Remus grinned. "Fair enough. You know, you can be quite devious when you want to be, Miss Gerard."

Maddie laughed. "Oh, why thank you, Mr. Lupin. You're not without mischief yourself."

Remus snickered. "I think that could easily be declared the understatement of the year." As they approached the greenhouses, Remus's eyes lit up with a roguish glint. "Speaking of Sirius and mischief, that gives me an idea."

Remus held the door to one of the greenhouses open for her, and Maddie raised an eyebrow at him, still grinning. "Oh?"

"Yeah," Remus smirked. "This idea will drive Sirius absolutely crazy."

"Well, don't hold me in suspense," Maddie said. "Tell me this genius idea of yours."

Remus closed the door behind them as a Venomous Tentacula plant hissed at them across the room. "Well, we both know how ridiculously protective Sirius is of you. How do you think he'd feel if you started dating someone?"

Maddie's eyes widened, and she tried not to laugh too hard as the humidity of the greenhouse warmed her. "Well, I'm fairly certain he won't react well, but that's also not likely to happen anytime soon," Maddie teased.

Remus shrugged, taking a step closer to Maddie, making her suddenly aware of how much taller than her he'd grown in the past year. "Well, what if maybe we went on a date to Hogsmeade this weekend?" Maddie froze mid-laugh, accidentally triggering a fit of hiccups, making Remus double over with laughter. "Oh goodness, I'm sorry," he chuckled as Maddie looked at him with the most pitiful pout on her face. "I'm not saying I have a crush on you or anything," Remus continued. "But let's face it; Sirius is already begging for us to be friends with him again, and then we start dating? He'd flip."

"I'd imagine so," Maddie choked out. "I nearly flipped myself."

"Think about it," Remus implored. "He does tend to take on the role of your overprotective boyfriend, and everyone knows that the usual reason to find a couple students in the greenhouses is that they're snogging, so why not let him think that's what happened? Then we go to Hogsmeade together this Saturday, refuse to let our friends tag along, he'll go mad with curiosity."

Maddie nodded. "That's pretty true."

"So," Remus pressed, boldly taking one of her hands and entwining their fingers. "What do you say?" Maddie nodded. Tilting his head to one side for a moment, Remus seemed to be listening intently to something outside the greenhouse that Maddie couldn't hear, then pulled her so close that she bumped into him. "Do you trust me?" he whispered. Maddie nodded, only to be shocked senseless when he suddenly leaned down and kissed her gently.

The door to the greenhouse banged open, completely destroying any potential romance in the air, and making Maddie jump hard enough that her head knocked against Remus's. Remus held onto her tightly to keep her upright as Sirius exclaimed, "What the bloody hell?"

Remus sighed, and although he looked most thoroughly annoyed, Maddie could still spot the look of mischief in his eyes. "Ah, hello to you, too, Sirius," Remus said calmly, never tearing his green eyes from Maddie's blue ones.

Sirius demanded, "What is this? Since when are you two a — a thing? I mean, I know you guys have been mad at me, but I thought… why didn't you tell me, Mads?"

Maddie chanced a glance at Sirius and was more than surprised by what she saw. Sirius stood in the doorway, slackjawed, gray eyes betraying more heartache than Maddie would have believed. Maddie's gut wrenched at the sight of his pain, and even though she opened her mouth, she couldn't make any words come out. Remus stepped in for her. "It just sort of happened, Sirius. We're going on our first date to Hogsmeade Saturday. She didn't tell you because until now there was nothing to tell."

Sirius shook his head, grinding his teeth. "Sorry, I just thought… Nevermind. You two have fun," he said coldly, then turned around and walked out, slamming the door closed behind him.

Maddie shuddered at the bang of the door, eyes burning. She pulled out of Remus's arms and started pacing. "I don't think I like this," Maddie mumbled.

Remus reached to her. "Hey, it's gonna be ok. He'll get over it."

"You know something about him that I don't, don't you?" Maddie accused, stopping her pacing to wheel on Remus. "Does he… is he…"

"I don't know," Remus said softly. "I suspected he might, but I didn't think he was so serious about it until this."

Maddie crossed the space between her and the Gryffindor and two strides, raised her hand, and slapped him as hard as she could across the face. Remus rubbed at his jaw as she spat, "Forget it. Forget Saturday; forget this stupid plan of yours. Teasing him a little is one thing; knowingly, intentionally hurting him is another. What we just did was just as bad as what he did to Snape."

Remus took a deep breath, then nodded. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I really didn't know he'd take it so hard."

Maddie huffed, "Yeah, well maybe you should have."

* * *

Maddie didn't finally find Sirius again until the next morning. He sat at the Gryffindor breakfast table with James, Remus sitting at the opposite end of the table from the other two boys with Peter. It wasn't until she was just a few steps away that she noticed. Sirius had a pretty girl with dark brown hair, fellow Gryffindor Emmeline Vance, on his lap and was snogging her, the pair completely oblivious to the world. James noticed her and stood, an apology in his eyes, but Maddie didn't wait to see what he'd say. She quickly turned on her heel and left the Great Hall, suddenly not very hungry at all.

James followed Maddie out of the hall, up the stairs in the direction of the Charms classroom. When he finally caught up to her, she didn't resist when he took hold of her and pulled her into a hug. She took deep, slow breaths, trying to resist crying as James stroked her hair soothingly. "Remus explained what happened," James muttered in her ear. "I'm sorry. I don't know what the hell is wrong with those guys, lately. They're complete idiots."

Maddie sniffed. "Yeah, so was I."

James shook his head. "You're not an idiot. They were pushing you into being an idiot, but you're not an idiot."

Maddie took a shaky breath as her breathing got more shallow. "I guess," Maddie mumbled, clinging more tightly to James's shirt in an attempt to hold herself together.

James pulled her away from the main corridor and up to the third floor. He glanced around, watching for witnesses as he led her over to a statue of a one-eyed witch. He brought her behind the statue and whipped out his wand, tapping it and muttering, "Dissendium."

James offered his hand, but Maddie hesitated. "Where are we going?" Maddie asked, shifting her weight between her feet.

"You need a day off, a day away from Hogwarts," James said softly. "This passageway is a secret, so you can't tell anyone about it, but it leads straight into the cellar of Honeydukes in Hogsmeade. We are going to ditch classes and eat far too much candy and drink butterbeer. Just have fun."

Maddie thought for a moment. "Won't the shopkeepers notice us walking around in our school uniforms with no cloaks on?"

James looked a bit shocked, then laughed. "Oh, yes, I suppose you're right. Well, how about you go up to your dorm, and I'll go to mine, we'll change into street clothes, grab our cloaks, meet back here?" Maddie nodded.

Maddie ran as fast as she could up to Ravenclaw, only to be stopped by the much-hated eagle knocker. "What is the truth?" The eagle asked as Dorcas Meadowes walked up behind Maddie.

Maddie scrunched up her face as she thought about it for a minute, then laughed humorlessly. Screeching until her voice was hoarse, she yelled, "Damn it, you are a doorknob! I don't know why you even care what the truth is! The truth is that you're a doorknob, and I'm a witch, and I need inside my damn room!" Stomping her foot, she demanded, "The truth is that Rowena Ravenclaw was completely ridiculous for thinking giving young children riddles as the only way to open their dorm rooms, and I just want in my room to change clothes! Now let me in!"

Dorcas burst out laughing as the eagle knocker, much to both girls' surprise, swung open to let them in. "Well done, Mads," Dorcas teased. "I was beginning to think you'd never manage to make the door open."

Maddie chuckled. "I was beginning to think so myself." As the two girls walked up the stairs to their beautiful shared blue bedroom, Maddie asked, "What are you doing up here, anyway? Don't you have class?"

"Came back for a textbook," Dorcas replied easily. "Why are you here?"

Maddie hesitated as she pulled off her Ravenclaw cardigan in favor of her favorite purple Muggle sweatshirt. "Well," Maddie said slowly. "You know Sirius and I have been fighting lately. Well, Remus was fighting with him too, and he kissed me in front of Sirius to make him mad."

"Oh dear," Dorcas said, frowning as she sat down on her four-poster bed. "Well, I'm sure that worked in Remus's favor brilliantly."

Maddie laughed nervously as she traded her school skirt for a pair of blue jeans. "Yes, well, he certainly accomplished his goal. Sirius was furious. Then this morning…"

"So _that's_ why he was snogging Emmeline in the Great Hall," Dorcas said as realization dawned on her. "He was trying to rub it in your face. If you're not into him, then he's certainly fine with that, blah blah blah."

Maddie sighed, pulling on her warmest pair of socks and boots. "Yeah, something like that."

"So why does that result in Muggle clothes and skipping class?"

Half a grin twitching at the corner of her mouth, Maddie answered, "Because James says that Remus and Sirius are both being gits and that I just need to spend a day away from them in Hogsmeade."

"Uh-oh, don't tell me that James is trying to get it on with you now, too," Dorcas groaned.

Maddie snickered. "I don't think so, and I don't think Sirius ever was, either, for that matter," Maddie insisted.

"Why would he get so mad that he saw you kissing someone else if he didn't have a massive crush on you?" Dorcas probed, blue eyes sparkling mischievously.

"Oooh, I don't know," Maddie huffed. "Maybe it's a brotherly protective kind of thing or something."

"If that were the case, he wouldn't be trying so hard to make you so bloody jealous," Dorcas giggled.

Maddie frowned, wrapping her Ravenclaw scarf around her neck and getting her warmest cloak, a recent Christmas present from Sirius, from her trunk. "I'm far more concerned by the fact that it worked," Maddie mumbled.

Dorcas bounced up from her bed, quickly getting warmly dressed as well. "Well, shoot, if it's working then I'm coming with you. James is a nice enough fellow, well, most of the time, but let's face it; what you need more than anything right now is time with your best girlfriend, who's obviously me," Dorcas said with a wink.

Maddie laughed and shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

* * *

The trio spent a long day in Hogsmeade. Thanks to James's surprising knowledge of hidden ways out of the castle, they'd easily made it in through the secret passage to Honeydukes. They ate more candy than could possibly be healthy, drank several pints of butterbeer each, and ate pub food until they were stuffed. James let Dorcas and Maddie run wild in the book shop, more than willing to pay for the armloads of books the girls purchased. Dorcas dragged Maddie into Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop to buy some special type of tea leaves that she had trouble finding anywhere else while James waited impatiently outside. By the time they made it back to Hogwarts loaded down with sacks of sweets, books, tea, and Quidditch supplies (as both James and Dorcas were on their house teams), it was well past curfew, which made it perfectly natural for the girls to be surprised when they approached Ravenclaw to find Sirius sitting on the floor below the eagle knocker. "Sirius?" Maddie said hesitantly. "What are you doing sitting out here?"

Sirius smirked as he slowly stood up. "Well, I did manage to get inside for a while, but you weren't there. I guess I overstayed my welcome cause some seventh years kicked me out after half an hour."

"Why aren't you up in Gryffindor tower?" Maddie asked.

Dorcas stepped between them. "Better question, Black. Why are you here looking for Maddie instead of running around with your Gryffindor snog-pal?"

Sirius sighed. "So, Remus was right. You did see that."

Maddie glared at him, maintaining her distance as Sirius took a couple steps toward her. "Yes, I saw," she snapped. "The whole bloody school saw you two. Why don't you run on back to Emmeline? I don't know why I got so worried about you and your feelings after yesterday; clearly, you rebound easily enough. You couldn't possibly need me."

"Come on, Mads," Sirius pleaded. "That's not fair. You're my best friend; you're the only one I can turn to at home. You know what you mean to me."

"Apparently, she doesn't mean as much to you as a good snog with Emmeline," Dorcas said, pushing Sirius back a step from Maddie.

"Mads," Sirius begged, ignoring Dorcas. "I'm sorry, ok? I'm sorry; I'm so incredibly sorry. I was hurt; I was stupid, and I couldn't possibly be sorrier. Please, please forgive me." Maddie stayed silent, staring at him with hard eyes, unmoving. "Remus told me what happened after I left yesterday. You know you left a nice, smart bruise on his jaw."

"Good, he deserved it," Maddie chuckled. "You've both been bloody gits, acting like children." Maddie sighed. "Look, I'm sick of fighting with you both. I say all three of us be friends again, but if either of you come anywhere near even mentioning snogging or dating to me again, I'll hex you into next week."

Sirius huffed. "Ok, I'll take what I can get."


	3. Chapter 3

**March 1976**

Maddie sat on the ground, leaning against the trunk of a large oak tree, reading through _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ for the fifth time when she heard the shouting. "Let me down! Let me down, you disgusting scumsuckers! I'll get you for this, you bunch of blood traitors!"

A familiar barking laugh reached Maddie's ears as she closed her book, dropped it in her bag, and stood up to investigate. She followed the noise until she saw Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter staring up at Severus Snape, who was hanging mid-air, upside down, pants around his ankles. Severus's wand was on the ground, along with his potions textbook, and he continued to shout obscenities at the boys as a crowd gathered around the scene. Remus and Peter were glancing at each other, something unreadable in their eyes, but James was smirking at Severus, wand pointed at him, while Sirius laughed so hard he was practically doubling over. Maddie saw Lily stomping toward James, screaming at him, "James Potter, how dare you! You stupid, arrogant toerag, he's done nothing to you! Leave him alone, and put him down. You're absolutely despicable." Rounding on Remus, Lily continued, "And you! You know better! You know he's being childish and stupid and breaking school rules, but you're too busy playing sidekick to do your job as a prefect! Shame on you both."

Maddie walked up behind Sirius and smacked him on the shoulder. He jumped slightly and turned around to see her glaring at him. "Sirius, what the hell are you doing? This is so stupid," Maddie snapped.

James chuckled. "Lily, I tell you what. I'll let Snivellus down if you'll go on a date with me next Hogsmeade weekend."

"Forget it!" Lily snapped. "Let him down right now, you git, or I'm telling McGonagall everything."

James rolled his eyes, lowering Severus to the ground at Sirius scrambled for a response to Maddie's reproach. "Mads, come on," Sirius pleaded half-heartedly. "Snivellus is a git. He's a Death Eater in the making; you know what kind of people he hangs out with."

"So that gives you an excuse to be a git to him?" Maddie hissed.

"He's up to his eyeballs in the Dark Arts, Maddie," Sirius insisted. "You two aren't even friends; why are you defending him?"

"I don't have to be his friend to believe you ought to be a kinder person," Maddie said.

Sirius looked away from Maddie, embarrassed, as Severus got to his feet and turned on Lily. "You shouldn't have done that," Severus snarled. "You should've stayed out of it."

Lily flinched a bit at Severus's tone. "I was just trying to help you," Lily said softly.

Severus sneered, "I didn't need your help. I never need your stupid help."

"Severus —" Lily pleaded.

"Oh just shut up, you stupid mudblood!" Severus yelled.

Maddie gasped, and in an instant, all four Gryffindor boys were pointing their wands at the Slytherin. Sirius growled, stalking toward Severus slowly, "How dare you call her that. She is a better and purer person than you will ever be."

Remus put a hand on Sirius's shoulder, holding him back. "Enough. Fifteen points from Slytherin." Remus paused and took a deep breath. "And twenty from Gryffindor. I'm sorry; Lily's right. We can't keep doing this."

Glaring daggers at Severus, James was shaking with rage, his jaw working as he thought over his options. Finally, he lowered his wand, nodding slowly. "All right, Moony. Get out of here, Snivellus. You ever call Lily that disgusting name again, and you won't be so lucky."

Severus sneered, but, unwilling to take his chances against the recently self-named "Marauders," he turned and walked away. Sirius stormed off in the opposite direction, and Maddie chased him. They were under a huge oak tree on the edge of the Black Lake when Sirius suddenly turned around and faced her. Maddie wasn't sure she'd ever seen Sirius like this — angry, scared, vulnerable. He ran a hand through his shoulder-length black hair, and Maddie watched him silently, unsure what to say. When Sirius broke the silence, he muttered, "You know that'll never happen to us, right?"

Maddie frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Sirius snorted. "If you think about it, I guess Snivellus and I aren't so different. We both grew up with knowledge about the magical world, buried in pureblood ideology, friends with beautiful Muggleborn girls." Maddie blushed a bit at his comment on her, but he didn't seem to notice as kept going. "The difference is he loves that bull, the Dark Arts, the pureblood mania. I hate it. I've never felt comfortable with it, and when I met you…" he paused. "When I met you, I knew it couldn't be true. There was no way I was somehow better than you, more worthy of magic than you. You've always been so much more than I am, so good, so pure."

"That's what you said about Lily," Maddie pointed out.

"And it's true of her, too," Sirius said solemnly. "But when I said it, I wasn't even thinking about Lily Evans. I was thinking about you. Anyone says that word in front of you, it makes me furious. Pathetic little Snivellus isn't even worthy of his own ideals; he's a halfblood, you know."

"I know," Maddie said softly, brows knitting together in confusion.

Sirius shook his head. "Sorry," he said. "My point is, I just wanted to make sure that you know that I'm never going to call you anything like that."

Maddie leaned her shoulder against the trunk of the tree, tilting her head to one side as she watched Sirius. "Of course, I know that," she replied gently. "What I don't understand is why you're so bloody mean to everyone else."

Sirius frowned. "I'm not mean to everyone," he argued.

"Ok, maybe not everyone," Maddie conceded. "You do tend to focus your fury on the Slytherins, and only occasionally extending it toward Peter and Marlene."

Sirius huffed. "I don't mean to be mean to Peter and Marlene. We just fight; it happens. And you can't tell me that the Slytherins don't deserve every bit of hell we send their way."

"Perhaps some of them do," Maddie sighed.

The two stood in silence for a moment, Sirius staring up at the leaves in the tree, Maddie observing the grass and sand beneath her feet curiously as she squished the toe of one of her shoes down into the mixture. Sirius broke the silence again. "When we graduate from here, I'm going to join the Order of the Phoenix."

Maddie's sky blue eyes snapped to meet Sirius's gray ones. "That new army Dumbledore's been forming? The one some of the Aurors have been joining?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, that. I want to fight. My parents keep pushing me to join the Death Eaters." Maddie blanched at the thought of Sirius as a Death Eater. "But it will never happen. I hate them and everything they stand for, and I'm going to join Dumbledore's Order and fight against them."

"It'll be dangerous," Maddie warned.

Sirius shrugged. "They want to kill all muggleborns. They want to kill _you_." Maddie stared at him, stunned, as he reached up and took her face in his hands. "I don't care how dangerous it is. I'll gladly die before I let them hurt you." They stared into each other's eyes for a few moments as Maddie's heart pounded in her chest so hard she was sure Sirius must've been able to hear it. Her stomach twisted with butterflies. Another beat later, Sirius let go of Maddie and backed up quickly. "Sorry, I've got to go. I forgot; I've got detention with McGonagall soon. I'll see you later." Maddie nodded, and Sirius turned and walked off in the direction of the castle.

* * *

 **May 1976**

"Maddie, what the bloody hell are you doing out here?" Sirius snapped.

"You're keeping something from me; I know it," Maddie accused from where she stood in the light of the full moon under the tree by the lake. "You've been keeping some big secret from me for years and lying to me about it."

"Ok, so what if I have?" Sirius growled as he stormed over to where she stood until he was close enough to tower over her. Maddie took a step back, his proximity making her nervous. "What the hell are you doing out here? Why aren't you up in Ravenclaw tower where you're supposed to be?"

"Why aren't you up in Gryffindor like _you're_ supposed to be?" Maddie shot back.

Sirius glared at her, frustrated. "Mads," Sirius said, his voice straining to sound calm. "It's not safe for you to be out here. Go back to your house; go to bed."

"Not until you tell me the truth," Maddie said, standing still as Sirius took another step closer and placed a hand on the tree trunk behind her. "I don't understand why you're hiding things from me."

"Because you can't know," Sirius snapped.

"Why not?" Maddie said, raising her voice to match his volume. Sirius stood silently, glaring at her. Maddie rolled her eyes and continued, "Why won't you tell me? Don't you trust me?"

"Maddie —"

"Why don't you trust me?" Maddie yelled, her temper taking over. She shoved Sirius away from her, and he stumbled back, looking rather sheepish. "What did I do? What did I do for you to not trust me?"

Sirius stomped back over to her and took hold of her wrists to keep her from pushing him away again. "Maddie, I do trust you," he said roughly.

Laughing humorlessly, Maddie raged, "It's because I'm a Muggleborn, isn't it?"

Sirius froze, eyes filling with horror. "What?"

She glared at him, struggling to pull her wrists from his grasp. "It is, though, isn't it? I've seen what your brother's like. I've seen your parents around; your cousin just became a Death Eater, didn't she? I haven't forgotten the way she bullied me while she was still in Hogwarts. What, do you agree with her? Sure, I'm fun to hang around from time to time, but eventually you're going to get tired of me and cast me aside, because I'm just a filthy little Mudblood to you, aren't I?"

Jaw dropping, it took Sirius a minute to recover enough to reply. "I thought we just talked about this a few months ago?" he said softly, pain leaking into his voice. "I've never thought about you like that; I thought you knew that. I'd trust you with my life. Just because I can't tell you something doesn't mean that I don't trust you."

Maddie's eyes stung as she blinked back tears. "Then why the hell won't you tell me? For years, it's felt like you've been slowly pulling away from me, like I'm losing you. You've been keeping this huge secret from me; what was I supposed to think?"

Sirius let go of one of her wrists to reach up and touch her face lightly. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe it wasn't my secret to tell you?" She looked up at his face and thought his eyes looked a bit watery, but even with the moonlight, it was impossible to be sure. Sirius sighed. "You have to get inside now, but we have to talk about this, ok? Breakfast in the morning?"

Maddie argued, "But why isn't it safe for me to be out here if it's safe for you?"

"Because I've got defenses you don't," Sirius answered harshly. "Now, please, I don't want you to get hurt. Please, go back to Ravenclaw."

"I can't."

"Why the bloody hell not?"

"I can't get in," Maddie admitted, her face burning. "I'm terrible at riddles; the door never lets me in. Sometimes I have to wait for hours before another Ravenclaw comes along and gets us in, and this time of night no one will be in or out."

Sirius sighed. "Ok, you know where Gryffindor is?" Maddie nodded. "Go to the pink lady, give her the password _Draconis Corde_ , go up the stairs on the left until you find my room. It's going to be empty all night; you can sleep in my bed."

Eyes widening, Maddie said, "But that breaks the —"

"Right now, I don't really care what rules that breaks," Sirius said quickly. "Please, please, just go inside, and hurry."

"But —"

A noise broke the silence surrounding them. The haunting sound of a wolf howl nearby sent shivers down Maddie's spine. Sirius used his grip on her arm to push her toward the castle, making her stumble, as he yelled, "Maddie, go! Run!"

"What is that —"

"Dammit, go! Run; run!"

Maddie took off, turning her back on Sirius and running as fast as she could up toward the castle. She paused for a moment to catch her breath at the top of a hill and looked back. Sirius had disappeared, and she saw two large dark shapes lunging at each other, and a third looking on and pushing the other two further away from the castle. Maddie heard snarling, snapping, ripping sounds, and the occasional yelp, then one of the dark shapes turned and looked right at her. She was just close enough that she could make out a pair of flashing yellow eyes in the darkness. Out of breath and panting, she quickly ran back into the castle, slamming the front doors behind her and racing up to the seventh floor. She had a little trouble finding the Gryffindor tower in the dark, and she was honestly surprised she hadn't run into any teachers or prefects along the way. When she finally found it, she was drenched in sweat from running. The pink lady didn't say anything, raising an eyebrow at her and her Ravenclaw uniform. " _Draconis Corde_ ," Maddie panted, and the portrait swung wide to reveal the Gryffindor common room. Stepping inside, Maddie breathed a sigh of relief to see that the house was empty.

Hurrying up the stairs as Sirius had instructed, Maddie hit the fifth floor and saw plaques labelling one bedroom as belonging to Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus. After a moment's hesitation, she entered the bedroom. The room was a total mess. Clothes thrown all over the place, quills in the floor, textbooks scattered. She spotted Sirius's name on the only closed trunk in the room at the foot of one bed, she walked over and took off her Ravenclaw cardigan and tie, setting them on the nightstand next to Sirius's bed. She sat down on the bed and took off her shoes. Where the other three Gryffindor boys were, Maddie could hardly guess. The red comforter was too bright in Maddie's opinion, but she supposed it fit Sirius well. Laying down, she noticed the pillow smelled like Sirius — something warm and spicy like cinnamon, musk, cigarette smoke, and the hint of something that Maddie could swear was wet dog, but there was no way it could possibly be a dog. The scent was familiar, though, so it helped Maddie's heart slow down to its normal rate. A few moments later, she was asleep.

* * *

"Wake up, Mads," Sirius's voice whispered in her ear as she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder shaking her. She groaned and rolled over toward the dip in the bed from Sirius sitting on it beside her, and she her eyes snapped open when she realized she'd accidentally snuggled up against his leg. He was smirking down at her. "Morning, sunshine."

"Morning," Maddie whispered back nervously.

Sirius reached toward her as though he was going to touch her hair, then seemed to think better of it and pulled his hand back. Dark bags had developed under his eyes, and Maddie noticed a deep gash on his forearm. "We have to talk about what happened last night," Sirius said quietly.

Maddie nodded and sat up quickly. "Yes, we do. What aren't you telling me?" she rushed.

"I told you, I can't tell you," Sirius repeated. "It's not my secret to tell, Maddie."

"Whose secret is it, then?" Maddie demanded.

Sirius sighed. "I can't tell you that either."

"So what? I'm just supposed to sit here knowing that you're running off every month to do something incredibly dangerous, not knowing what it is, and just trust that everything is going to be ok?" Maddie snapped.

"You know what," Sirius replied heatedly, twirling his wand in his fingers. "Yes, that's exactly what you're supposed to do. Just trust me, please."

"I saw something last night," Maddie said.

Sirius froze, wand in midair, accidentally spitting a few red sparks from the end. "What?" he said quietly. Maddie didn't say anything, taken aback by the coldness in Sirius's voice. He suddenly took hold of her shoulder and shook her. "Mads, what did you see?" he demanded.

"I — I don't know," Maddie stuttered. "I turned around, and you were gone. There were these shadows or animals, and I thought I saw…" She hesitated, but Sirius's pleading gray eyes compelled her to ask the question haunting her. "Sirius, are you a werewolf?"

Sirius was still for a moment, then he laughed, his loud, deep laugh. "Me, a werewolf?" he chuckled. "No, darling, I'm not a werewolf."

"Someone else is, then," Maddie insisted. "I swear; last night I saw a werewolf."

Sirius sobered up a bit then. "Maddie, are you sure that's what you saw? It sounds to me like you just saw a couple animals from the forest, darling."

Maddie shook her head. "Don't try to make me feel like I'm crazy, Sirius," she snapped. "I know what I saw."

"Ok," Sirius said slowly. "What are you going to do about it?"

Maddie thought for a moment. "Nothing," she answered. "If one of your friends is a werewolf, I don't care. There's nothing to be done about it."

"You sure?"

Maddie nodded. "Yeah, and I won't tell anyone. Although whichever friend it is, I wish he'd tell me. Or that you would tell me. You know that I'd keep your friend safe."

"That's not the point," Sirius sighed. "I know that, and I'm sure he does too. When he's ready to tell you, he will, but I can't. I already let it slip to someone once, and I thought he'd never forgive me. I know you're trustworthy; I know you wouldn't do anything to put him in danger. But the way he sees it, I've betrayed him once already. I can't risk losing him as my friend."

Maddie bit her lip, then nodded. "Ok, I understand. I'm sorry for pushing."

Sirius grinned. "Good, and it's ok. I don't blame you for being concerned." After a moment, he frowned. "We have to talk about the rest of what happened last night." Maddie felt her face heating up and looked away, down at the sheets. "Please tell me that you don't really believe that I could ever think about you the same way my family does."

Maddie fidgeted nervously as Sirius shifted closer to her. "Normally, no, of course not," she mumbled. "I was just scared; that's all."

Sirius frowned. "Scared of what, though? What could I have done that scared you so much you could think that?"

"Look, it's not that hard of a conclusion to jump to in this place," Maddie snapped. "You've been pulling further and further away from me the last couple years. The more distance between me and you, the more people aren't afraid to pick on me. You think the bullying and name-calling stopped just because Bellatrix graduated after our second year?"

"Mads, I had no idea. You never said anything…"

"Of course, I didn't say anything," Maddie retorted, scooting further away from Sirius. "It wasn't your problem. I wanted to take care of it myself."

"And clearly, you didn't take care of it at all," Sirius barked. "If you're so stuck in the mindset that you're nothing more than a mudblood, even to me, then you're clearly letting these ridiculous people get to you far more than they should be."

"And why shouldn't I?" Maddie screeched, her voice accidentally going up an octave. "It's not just your family and the Slytherins saying these things, you know. Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, even my fellow Ravenclaws make these comments, espouse blood purity, tell me that maybe I should go back to Muggle London if I can't even get myself into my own house."

"That's not true, though," Sirius insisted, reaching up and gently tucking her hair behind her ear. "You belong here every bit as much as the rest of us."

"Maybe you're right," Maddie said, pulling away from his touch. "But that doesn't make it easier to ignore them. That doesn't make it any less true that, at the very least, I shouldn't have been placed in Ravenclaw."

"Are you kidding me? You're a brilliant Ravenclaw. Just because you're not good at riddles doesn't mean you don't belong there," Sirius said. "And what about your friend, Dorcas? I thought you two were really close. Doesn't she help you get in the house?"

"Yeah, she does," Maddie said, her voice softening a little. "She's always been very kind to me."

"See, that proves my point," Sirius said, inching closer to Maddie and cradling her face in both his hands. "You need to ignore those gits that are trying to tear you down. You're a bloody brilliant witch. You're incredible at charms, and you make some of the best potions I've ever seen. You're talented; you're intelligent; you're unique; you're beautiful. You deserve to be here just as much as any of the rest of us, maybe even more." Maddie shivered slightly when he called her beautiful. She stared at him, blue eyes meeting gray, and, unable to articulate a response as her stomach fluttered nervously, she simply nodded at him. "Maddie, I —"

"Padfoot, there you are," James exclaimed as he crashed into the room on his broomstick, laughing loudly. "You missed Quidditch practice." Finally noticing Maddie, James smirked. "Oh, but I see now that you had better things to do than play Quidditch."

James winked at Sirius, who threw a pillow at James as hard as he could. James dodged it, laughing. "Get out of here, you wanker," Sirius snapped.

"All right, all right," James teased. "You two have fun, but not too much fun." Sirius waved his wand, and sent every pillow in the room flying at James at once. James raced out the door, his laughter echoing down the hallway.

"He's just kidding," Sirius said sheepishly. "He doesn't really think that we're…"

"Right," Maddie said, slipping out of the bed and taking a couple stumbling steps away from Sirius.

Sirius sighed. "Mads, I —"

"So, ummm, I hear you and Marlene are going out," Maddie said softly. "Hogsmeade, this weekend, right?"

Sirius sighed, running a hand through his wavy hair. "Uhh, yeah, we are," Sirius replied.

"Congrats," Maddie said, doing her best to smile at him. "I'm sure you two will have a lot of fun together."

"Maddie," Sirius pleaded, standing up and crossing the room to her, taking her hand in his.

"I should probably be going," Maddie mumbled as Sirius's fingers ghosted over her cheek, making her shudder. "Besides, you promised you'd never talk to me about dating and snogging anymore, remember?"

Sirius sighed, lowering his hand and letting go of her hand. "Ok. Don't forget your sweater and tie," he said softly. Maddie nodded, using her wand to summon them from his nightstand, then quickly turning and running away.


	4. Chapter 4

**January 1977**

Slughorn opened a golden cauldron, revealing a potion that shimmered like mother-of-pearl. "Now," Slughorn lectured. "Amortentia is the most powerful love potion in the world. In spite of that, there is no love potion that can create true love, merely a powerful infatuation. It smells differently to each individual, depending on what attracts them most. For example, let's see… Mr. Snape, what do you smell?"

Severus froze as the class's eyes turned to him, waiting for the answer. He mumbled, "Sunshine and ummm… I don't know exactly."

Slughorn frowned. "All right, well then, Miss Gerard, what about you? What do you smell?"

Maddie blushed furiously, feeling everyone staring at her, but she was most conscious of Sirius standing next to her, watching her intently. She cleared her throat, before leaning forward over the cauldron and letting the smell fill her lungs, making her a touch light-headed. "It's wonderful," she whispered. "Cinnamon, acrylic paint, and…" she paused, not sure if she was smelling what she thought she smelled. She scrunched up her nose and stepped back from the cauldron, nearly tripping over Sirius's feet, his hand on her back the only thing that kept her from falling.

"And what, Miss Gerard?" Slughorn encouraged.

Maddie answered slowly, "The subtle hint of dog." She felt Sirius's laughter more than she heard it, the vibrations running from his hand into her spine, making her shiver.

After taking responses from a couple more students, Slughorn split the class to practice brewing the potion. As Maddie stirred her concoction, Sirius walked past her toward the ingredients cabinet. He paused behind her, tucking her light brown hair behind her ear. On his return trip to his desk, he suddenly leaned down and growled in her ear, causing Maddie to jump so hard that her knife slipped from her ingredients and sliced open her hand instead. Sirius rushed over to his bag, pulling a bottle out of it and hurrying back to her. "Shhh," Sirius hushed Maddie's soft whimpers. "I've got you." He dropped the Essence of Dittany across her skin, healing the gash easily. Maddie met his gaze, and the intensity of the look in his gray eyes made Maddie's stomach flip excitedly. "I'll always be there to take care of you," he said quietly, before disappearing back to his desk, leaving Maddie with more questions than answers.

* * *

 **August 1977**

Maddie hit the wall hard, head cracking against the hard bricks. The cold glint of steel shined near her neck, and she whimpered. Isaac McClellan, another one of the orphans in her home, smirked at her, holding a knife to her throat. "You don't scream, you don't get hurt, got it?" Maddie nodded, eyes burning as he ran a hand up her arm, pushing her sleeve up. "Good, glad we understand each other." As he pulled out some kind of syringe, he sneered, "You know, Mrs. McCarthy's always been right about you. You're a bloody freak; you really ought to be part of some circus or something. But, I do have to give you credit for being damn sexy. Walking around here with your little air of mystery, like you know something the rest of us don't. Well, I'll fix you. You're no better than the rest of us, and I'm gonna make sure you know it."

* * *

Four hours later, Maddie paced in the street alone anxiously, stumbling every now and then, waiting for Sirius's response to her owl. She couldn't even begin to imagine what was taking him so long to get from his house to steps in front of the orphanage. Maddie had never bothered to unpack her school things from the trunk Sirius had bought her in their third year, so she hadn't needed to pack anything after she'd sent him his owl back with the letter telling him she had been thrown out of the orphanage. She wasn't sure what he'd do, but she knew she could trust him to help her, although, with her head as clouded as it was, she was starting to wonder if he would come save her after all.

The street lights shone too brightly. Occasionally, cars had driven by, the windshield wipers splashing Maddie with rain and headlights blinding her and leaving her dizzy. Her hands shook as she clenched and unclenched her fists The raindrops on her feverish skin evaporated almost instantly. Her wet brown hair clung to her face and neck from the mix of rain and sweat. Her heart thudded loudly in her ears, and she scratched hard at a painful itch on her right forearm as panic gripped her — maybe Sirius wasn't going to be there for her this time.

Maddie nearly jumped out of her skin when a loud pop broke the silence. She spun around, relief flooding her when she saw Sirius standing in the middle of the empty road. He rushed over to her and started to take her in his arms, but she flinched away and took a step back. Sirius's frown deepened, and he asked, "What happened?"

Maddie shook her head, tears stinging her eyes again as she wrapped her arms around herself. "Sirius, I can't…"

"Maddie, you told me a guy here hurt you, and you got kicked out for it," Sirius said, a quiet fury lurking under his voice. "You're not seventeen yet; you couldn't use magic to get out of here on your own. What the hell did he do to you?"

Maddie choked on a sob. "H-he held a knife to my throat, and-and I can't do magic a-away from Hogwarts."

"Except in life-threatening situations, then you can," Sirius reminded her.

Maddie sniffled. "I didn't have my wand; I couldn't get it…"

Sirius slowly placed a hand on her shoulder, his eyes burning as he repeated, "Mads, what did he do?"

Maddie shuddered as sobs racked her body, and she whispered, barely loud enough for Sirius to hear, "He… he drugged me. Cornered me and pumped me full of this Muggle stuff, morphine. It's illegal without a prescription; I don't know how he got it." She paused for a gulp of air. "He planted all sorts of drugs in my room and told Mrs. McCarthy I was using and trying to deal to the other kids. Sh-she threw me out here with my school things right after. I didn't even have the chance to defend myself."

Sirius froze, jaw dropping. Letting his hand fall from Maddie's shoulder, he clenched his fists. "Who the hell is he? Where is he? I'll kill him," Sirius growled.

"Sirius, no," Maddie argued, scratching her cheek until it was bright red. "Please, I don't even want to go back in there. I'm tired; I just want to get out of here."

Sirius glared at the orphanage's front door for a moment, before nodding. "Ok, ok. Come on, we'll apparate in that alley back there." He took her hand, and Maddie grabbed hold of her trunk, dragging it along behind her as Sirius tugged her into the alley. He pulled her flush against his chest, and Maddie squirmed nervously, the contact making her skin crawl and itch all the more. He bit his lip, contemplating something, then said softly, "Side-along. I'll pull you with me." Entangling his fingers with hers, he kept one arm wrapped firmly around her waist and disapparated. There was the sickening feeling of being sucked through a tube that comes with apparation, and when they landed on the front steps of a house, it was all Maddie could do to keep from falling over and throwing up on Sirius's shirt. "Maddie, I —"

"There you are!" A woman with dark brown hair, which was considerably more gray than when Maddie had last seen her as an eleven-year-old, had opened the front door. "When James said you'd disappeared to Muggle London, I got so worried, Sirius!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Potter," Sirius said, although he still couldn't help the small smile on his face. Maddie clung to his shirt front, face buried in his chest as she kept her eyes closed, trying her best to make the world around her stop spinning. "Can Maddie stay with us through the start of the school year? A Muggle boy drugged her and got her thrown out of her orphanage, and she's got nowhere else to go."

Mrs. Potter gasped. "Oh, goodness! Of course, sweetheart, of course! Please, bring her in, she must be feeling miserable. Lay her down in your bedroom; I'll make up the couch for you to sleep on, Sirius."

"Yes, ma'am," Sirius said, gently pulling Maddie into the house and up the stairs.

James met them at the top of the stairs. "What happened?"

Sirius asked, "Hey, isn't Evans's mum some kind of Muggle healer?"

"Yeah?"

Maddie stumbled over the last step, and Sirius helped her stay on her feet. "Can you tell Evans that someone gave Maddie something called morphine and ask her how we can fix it?" James nodded, and Maddie swayed uneasily as Sirius led her into a room. As dizzy as she was, all she could properly make out about it was the colors of blue and red as Sirius lifted her and placed her on the feather-soft bed. Maddie whimpered as nausea gripped her stomach again, and Sirius climbed onto the bed next to her and laid down with her, holding her to his chest. "Shhh, shhh, it's ok. You're gonna be just fine."

As Maddie's body began to calm down again, the nausea faded and her eyes refocused. "Sirius," she whispered. Sirius opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow at her. "Thank you. I was starting to think that you weren't coming."

"Don't be silly," he mumbled, splaying his fingers over her reddened cheek. "You know I'll always be there for you when you need me. I'd do anything for you. It just takes longer for you to reach me since I moved here."

Maddie sighed contentedly, pushing her face into his hand. Her skin had stopped crawling, replaced by an enjoyable tingling sensation that made her shiver… Or perhaps the trembling was from the drug-induced fever and the hours standing in the rain? Sirius smiled at her reaction, oblivious to the jumbled tangle of incomplete thoughts in her head. Maddie reached up and pushed his black hair out of his face, leaving her fingers tangled in his hair, grinning as a feeling of everything being right with the world settled over her. Suddenly, she leaned a few inches forward and kissed him, his lips warm and soft against hers. He froze for a moment, before losing himself in the kiss, taking hold of her by the hip and pulling her closer to him. She moaned softly against him, melting against the heat of his body, ignoring the fact that she was already painfully hot and sweaty. Then, just as suddenly, she pushed him away, eyes widening with horror. "Oh, Merlin, I'm sorry," Maddie rushed. "I shouldn't have… You're with Marlene; I shouldn't…"

"Mads, no," Sirius hushed her gently. "Didn't you know? Marlene and I broke up after exams ended last term."

Maddie hesitated. "Why?"

"She couldn't handle the competition," he answered honestly. "She seemed to believe that I was in love with someone else and that I was never going to let go of that." He paused, capturing Maddie's chin in his fingers and pulling her back to him. "And she was completely right," he admitted before bringing her lips to his again, kissing her passionately, driving any half-formed thoughts of protest from her mind, leaving her holding onto him as tightly as she could to fight against the feeling that she might float away if he released his grip on her.

"Sorry to interrupt," James snickered, his voice startling Sirius and Maddie into jumping apart. "But Lily said there's nothing we can do but wait for the drug to pass through her system. Apparently, sleep should help."

Sirius threw a pillow at James's head, which hit him square in the face, knocking his glasses askew and making both boys laugh. "Get out," Sirius demanded, trying to stifle his laughter enough to seem serious — and failing.

"Good night, lovebirds," James said with a wink, dodging another of Sirius's pillows as he raced out of the room.

Sirius laughed and turned to say something to Maddie, but she was staring hard at him, confusion in her eyes. "You moved in here? Permanently?" she asked.

Sirius's face fell as she watched him intently, unaware that to Maddie, his face was just a blur of colors in that moment. "Yeah," he said quietly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Maddie demanded, feeling hurt at being left in the dark about such an important detail of his life.

Sirius shifted on the bed, sitting up beside her and pulling her head into his lap to play with her wet hair. It had the desired effect, and Maddie already was starting to calm and feel her eyelids grow heavy. "I didn't exactly plan it," Sirius admitted. "You know what my family is like…"

Maddie forced her eyes open, staring up at him with wide, clouded eyes that struggled to drink in what they saw. "Not especially," she said honestly. "You don't like to tell me. I mean, Bellatrix bullied me, but Regulus is quiet and stays away from me." She fought to keep from getting tongue-tied as she continued talking. "All I know is the Blacks are purebloods and have a repa… rap… reputation for, uh, the… ooh…" She bit her tongue by accident, then growled slightly in frustration.

"The dark arts," Sirius supplied for her. "Yeah, that's pretty accurate. In fact, they're so entrenched in the dark arts that they're all tangled up in the Death Eaters. They hate Muggleborns, and by some miracle, I managed to hide how close I was to you from them for the most part. They found out we were friends of course, but I had no idea they knew how I felt about you."

Brows furrowing, Maddie frowned at Sirius. "What do you mean?"

Sirius shook his head. "We're best friends and all," Sirius muttered, though even in her inebriated state, Maddie thought he really meant something more. "I guess Regulus told my mother because last summer I came home to find my parents and brother there waiting for me. They…" Sirius hesitated, his fingers pausing in Maddie's hair. "Damn it, I could handle their threats against me, the violence, the torture curses…" He swallowed hard, then continued, "But I nearly broke and gave in when they threatened you. They'd found out how close by you lived, how close we are, and they exploited it." Maddie felt Sirius shiver slightly, and she closed her eyes and took hold of his free hand in hers, her grip weak from her drug fever. He squeezed her hand, taking strength from her to continue his story. "They said that if I didn't take the Dark Mark that very night, they'd torture you and kill you in front of me and… other things. I almost took the Mark to protect you, but then I realized that if I did that, I'd never get to see or speak to you again after our last year of school. So I cursed the lot of them and packed my things and left. I could hear my mother blasting me off the family tree tapestry as I ran out the door with my father firing dark magic at my back."

Maddie's head had begun to pound as Sirius spoke, and the room's lights were blinding her. She squeezed her eyes even tighter shut, turning her face to take advantage of the shadow Sirius's torso provided. "That's so awful," she mumbled as she moved.

His fingers combing gently through her hair paused for a split second, then Sirius traced his way across Maddie's forehead, down her temple, brushing lightly over her cheek. "It was nothing I couldn't handle," Sirius said bitterly.

"You didn't tell me this when I saw you at school last year though," Maddie argued sleepily.

Sirius's fingers hesitated in the dip just above her collarbone, their movement ceasing. "You were busy, and I was doing all right. I had James and his parents and the guys. You had your own stuff going on, and you were still so curious about the whole werewolf thing."

"Yeah, who is it?" Maddie asked curiously.

Sirius snorted. "I've told you a million times. I can't tell you. Anyway, you were worried enough about me, and I'd gotten my cousin Andromeda to place protective wards around your orphanage to keep you safe from my family. I didn't want you any more worried than you already were." Maddie tried to say something, but by the time the first mangled word came from her lips, she couldn't even remember what she'd been planning to say. Sirius gently deposited her head back onto his pillow, and Maddie thought she felt him brush a light kiss on her forehead. "Go to sleep, Mads," Sirius whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her ear and neck and triggering another spell of itching. Before she could even think about scratching at the itching, though, she had drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Maddie woke up alone in Sirius's bedroom, a bit disoriented. Gryffindor banners covered the blue walls, and the Ravenclaw blue of the bedspread combined with Sirius's scent on the pillow she was laying on made Maddie feel at home. She sat up slowly, mouth dry like cotton and sinuses stuffy and swollen, and, noticing her trunk on the opposite wall, dug through it to find a fresh pair of jeans and well-worn black t-shirt, which was surprisingly dry after spending so much time in the rain the previous night. She supposed she must have Sirius and magic to thank for that. Throwing them on as quickly as she could, she tip-toed down the stairs, following the smell of bacon to find the kitchen. As she reached the bottom of the staircase and found the open door to the kitchen, Maddie overheard Mrs. Potter saying, "You know, if I didn't know any better, Sirius, I'd say you were in love with this Maddie girl."

"I am."

Maddie's breath caught in her throat as she heard the sound of a pan banging in the kitchen. The previous night finally flooded her memory. Sirius kissing her and confessing he was in love with her. The kiss they'd shared. Learning Sirius had moved in with the Potters and had broken up with Marlene McKinnon. "Oh, I see," Mrs. Potter said, but Maddie couldn't decipher her tone.

Maddie didn't want to stay. She didn't want to listen; she hadn't meant to overhear any of it, but her muscles were frozen, rooting her to the floor. Her heart pounded as Sirius continued, "She's just bloody perfect, you know? She's been my best friend since before Hogwarts. I got to be the one to tell her for the first time that she's a witch, just how truly special she really is. She's clever and artistic and so kind. She's a far better person than I'll ever be."

"Well, I don't —"

"Oh, come on," Sirius teased. "Don't argue with me there; you're the closest thing I've got to a mother, you're biased." Mrs. Potter laughed softly. "I mean it, she's gorgeous and intelligent. She puts up with me, even when I'm being a complete moron, and she likes the guys, too. She's perfect. I've known I was in love with her since fourth year."

"So why haven't you told her?" Mrs. Potter asked curiously. Maddie couldn't help but wonder about the answer to that question herself.

Sirius sighed. "We sort of had a fight around that same time, and, well, the timing was just never right."

"Well," Mrs. Potter asked, and Maddie could hear a cheeky smile in her voice. "Is the timing right now?"

James's voice from behind Maddie made her nearly jump out of her skin as he called, "I hope the timing is bloody perfect because she just heard it anyway."

Maddie turned toward James, face heating, as Sirius rushed out of the kitchen. Spotting her, he said hurriedly, "Maddie, I know I promised not to say anything about…"

"Oh, to hell with that," Maddie snapped, spinning around again to find Sirius standing much closer to her than she had expected and becoming even more red-faced. She stumbled slightly, tripping over her own feet, and Sirius held her up with a hand on her shoulders. "I was fourteen and stupid when I made you promise that, just forget about that. Did you really mean all that? What you said last night? Just now? Are — are you really in love with me, like that?"

"Well, yeah," Sirius replied, cupping her face with one hand and tugging her a couple steps closer to him. He glanced over the top of her head at James and cleared his throat. James chuckled, brushing past the pair to join his mother in the kitchen, the two Potters giggling quietly together. Sirius looked back down at Maddie and said softly, "Mads, I love you. I've always loved you. I don't know why I bothered trying to fall in love with anyone else because it was always going to be you."

"Sirius —" Maddie started.

"No, Maddie, please, just listen," Sirius begged. "I've been holding this back for over three years, and I can't keep it in anymore. Madeleine, I love you. I love you more than anything in the world. You are my life, my sun, my stars, and I sound like a bloody greeting card, but I don't care because all I care about is you."

Maddie began again. "Sirius —"

"Maddie, I mean it," Sirius interrupted, brushing his thumb over her cheek. "I love you, and I'll never love anyone else. I want to be with you. I want to take care of you, protect you, love you. Please, give me a chance."

"Sirius —"

"I know I've screwed up before," Sirius continued. "But please, let me take you out on a date. Let me show you that I can be the man you need."

Rolling her eyes, Maddie grabbed Sirius's tee shirt and yanked his face down to hers, crashing their lips together in a searing kiss. He responded by tangling his fingers in her long, messy brown waves, pulling her closer to him and deepening the kiss. After a few moments, Maddie pulled back, smirking as she noticed he was breathless. "Finally, you shut up for a minute," Maddie teased. "I keep trying to tell you. Yes, I'll go out with you."

"You will?" Sirius whispered, his breath warm on Maddie's face.

Maddie giggled and nodded. There was a whistling cat-call from the kitchen, and James shouted, "It's about bloody time, you two!"

"James, language," Mrs. Potter chided, but when Sirius led Maddie into the kitchen, she saw that Mrs. Potter was smiling gently at her son. "I'm very happy for you two," she continued, turning her attention to Sirius and Maddie. "Now, you treat that girl right, Sirius."

Sirius grinned madly, then leaned over and kissed the top of Maddie's head. "I will," he promised.

* * *

 **September 1977**

Maddie sat at the Gryffindor table with Sirius throughout the Welcome Feast as their seventh year began. The feast was delicious, and Maddie couldn't help the feeling of warmth sitting just under her diaphragm she had when Sirius kept his arm around her shoulders throughout the entire night. As students began to flood out into the Entrance Hall to go to their dormitories, Maddie left Sirius to catch up with Dorcas before she got locked out of Ravenclaw for the night, rushing ahead of him after her best friend. Unable to spot Dorcas in the crowded Entrance Hall, Maddie was about to head up the first flight of stairs when she felt a hand on her shoulder forcing her to turn back. She found herself face to face with Regulus Black. She'd hardly ever spoken to the younger Black brother, but she always felt after speaking with him that there was something different about the boy that she could never quite put her finger on. "What do you want?" Maddie asked, narrowing her eyes at the Slytherin.

Regulus's eyes were wide, darting around the Entrance Hall, never settling on one spot for more than a few seconds. "You can't date Sirius," he hissed, grabbing her arm and dragging her to one side of the room.

Maddie snapped, resisting Regulus's lead, "Of course, I can. What makes you think you have the right to have any say in who Sirius dates?"

"Madeleine," Regulus sighed. "You don't understand. You're a mudblood."

"So your family and friends have taken great pleasure in frequently reminding me," Maddie said, trying to yank her arm out of Regulus's firm grip, to no avail. "You and your precious pureblood family disowned Sirius; none of you have any right to try to dictate his actions anymore, and maybe you should try to remember that."

Regulus shook Maddie hard. "Shut up and listen to me," Regulus insisted. "I could personally care less what the hell happens to you, but Sirius for whatever reason is incredibly attached to you, so I'm telling you this for his sake. You two have to stop seeing each other, or else…"

"Or else what?" Maddie demanded as she spotted Sirius in the crowd of students making his way toward her.

Regulus dropped her arm, reached down, and partially rolled up his sleeve, revealing a portion of a Dark Mark. Maddie gasped, hands flying to cover her mouth. "Don't be bloody stupid, Gerard," Regulus snarled. "And don't believe for a second that I'm the only one in this castle sporting one of these." He quickly pulled his sleeve back down as Sirius reached them. "Be careful," Regulus warned. "I'm sure Sirius wouldn't want you getting hurt."

"Regulus," Sirius growled. "Leave her the hell alone."

Regulus opened his mouth to reply, but Maddie placed a hand on Sirius's arm. "No, Sirius, it's ok," Maddie said softly. "He was just asking how you were doing." Sirius tried to argue, but Maddie tugged on his sleeve. "Please, just walk me up to Ravenclaw?" Maddie pleaded.

Sirius nodded, throwing an arm around her shoulders and hurrying her up the stairs. Once the other students around them had thinned out, Sirius leaned down and whispered in her ear, "What the bloody hell did Regulus really want?"

Maddie leaned into Sirius, sighing. "He was warning me to stay away from you," Maddie admitted. "But it didn't seem like he was threatening me."

"Well, how else could that be taken?" Sirius demanded. "My family has been writing me threatening you all the bloody time, ever since I ran away, talking about how you weren't worthy of the Black family name and that if I wouldn't leave you alone they'd kill us both. What else is new?"

Paling, Maddie stammered, tripping over a step as the staircase started moving, "W-what? Still? Y-you never told me it was still so serious…"

"Why would I tell you that?" Sirius said, frowning as the stairs slammed into place so the pair could keep walking. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to frighten you needlessly."

"Brilliant," Maddie drawled as she and Sirius approached Ravenclaw tower. "Except it's not a needless worry anymore. It wasn't a threat; it was a warning. Regulus — he took the Dark Mark, Sirius."

Maddie felt Sirius's muscles tense around her shoulders, and he stopped moving so suddenly that she nearly fell forward. "R-Reg-Regulus did what?" Sirius stuttered, eyes filled with horror.

"He showed it to me," Maddie whispered, turning toward him and gently taking his face in her hands that were far too small to contain his strong jaw. "He's a Death Eater, and he said that he's not the only one in Hogwarts. He was warning me that if we keep dating, I'm going to get hurt. He said that for your sake, he was letting me know so that maybe I'd stay away from you. I think he didn't want you to be hurt by them hurting me."

Sirius's eyes hardened with anger, and he pulled away from Maddie's touch. "I don't care what they bloody threaten us with," Sirius growled. "I love you, damn it, and I don't care who knows, and I don't care what they do to me for it. I'll protect you. No one will ever hurt you, and especially not because you're with me."

Maddie bounced on the balls of her feet, biting her lower lip. "I don't want you getting hurt because of me," Maddie mumbled.

Sirius softened, then took her hand and led her along up the stairs to the eagle knocker. "I'll be in harm's way whether I'm with you or not," Sirius said gently. "Don't forget that I'm joining the Order of the Phoenix at the end of this school year. So it doesn't matter to me what they threaten me with because of you; they'd be threatening me whether you were in the picture or not. Don't worry about us; we'll be safe."

Maddie sighed and nodded as the eagle knocker asked, "What is easy to get into, but hard to get out of?"

Screwing up her face in concentration, Maddie thought for a moment, clueless about the answer to the door's riddle, as usual. Sirius suddenly laughed, then answered, "Trouble." The Ravenclaw door opened, and Maddie kissed Sirius's cheek before he left her alone and headed for Gryffindor Tower.


End file.
